Greek judges stop work to protest austerity

September 17, 2012|Reuters

ATHENS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Greek judges went on strike onMonday, kicking of a series of walkouts by state employeesranging from doctors to tax officials in protest at wage cutsand labour reforms demanded by international lenders in exchangefor more aid.

Judges were hearing only cases nearing the statute oflimitations and are expected to continue their labour actionthroughout this week, potentially delaying thousands of caseswaiting to be heard by the already overstretched legal system.

"We are determined to defend our current wages," the judges'associations said in a statement. "We won't tolerate thedowngrading of the judges."

Judges say they have already seen their salaries reduced byas much as 38 percent and have warned that relentless pay cutswere putting their constitutional position as guarantors of thecourt system under threat.

"We call on the state not to forget that it has theobligation of protecting the personal and operationalindependence of judges," the group of associations said.

The action by the judges underlines the stiff opposition thegovernment of centre-right Prime Minister Antonis Samaras willhave to face to push through the latest round of austeritymeasures, with Greece in its fifth year of recession.

The main labour unions have called a 24-hour strike on Sept.26, the first general, nationwide strike since Samaras tookoffice in June with a mandate to keep the country in the euro.

The government must find about 12 billion euros ($15.78billion) through austerity measures for 2013-14, in order to getthe green light for more funds from its EU/IMF bailoutprogramme.

Greece's bloated public sector has been targeted byinspectors from the "troika" of the European Union,International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. Butunions have mounted stiff opposition and say the cuts riskundermining the government's ability to manage the crisis andkeep essential services running.

State hospital doctors also began a series of stoppages onMonday, protesting against cuts which have delayed payment ofovertime pay. Only emergency cases were being examined.

Tax officials, who held a strike last week, are due to stopwork on Friday in protest at what they called "barbaric" cuts.

($1 = 0.7606 euros)

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by James Mackenzie;Editing by Pravin Char)